


Problems

by VioletNuisance



Category: Sally Face (Video Games)
Genre: Eventual Smut, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Rating will change, Tags Will Update As Story Progresses, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, god thats a bad explanation, just two dumb boys admiring each other, this fic is just a bunch of glimpses into sal and travis's relationship via connected oneshots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:33:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22121119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VioletNuisance/pseuds/VioletNuisance
Summary: I'm a loser, a disgrace.You're a beauty, a luminary in my face.
Relationships: Sal Fisher/Travis Phelps
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	Problems

**Author's Note:**

> Title and summary is from the song, Problems, by Mother Mother. It's my go to Salvis song.
> 
> ALSO HUGE SHOUTOUT TO @asexuelf  
> They've been chugging out godly salvis oneshots nonstop and have inspired me to finally release this bad boy. Go check them out if you haven't already.

“Are we taking the tree down, or are you two going to makeout all day?” Larry’s voice was gruff, but it punctuated everyone's worries. Larry, Ashley, and Travis had all been invited to come to Todd’s house, which Neil and Sal also resided in, for an oh-so festive day of everyone pitching in to take the Christmas decorations down. The boys had gone hog wild right after Thanksgiving, plastering decor on every free inch of the house, inside and out. It had looked tacky, but they had been proud.

Now, the task of removing everything seemed daunting. Even worse, everyone had already been camped out at the house for a few hours now, but no one was taking the initiative to start the clean up process. Todd, who had orchestrated the event, had spent the entire time cuddling up with his boyfriend. They weren’t making out like Larry had accused, but everyone was starting to get antsy, not wanting to do the housework after the sun had set.

Todd heaved out a sigh, sitting up from where he had been leaning against Neil on the couch. “Can’t we just wait until tomorrow?”

Larry and Ashley were both immesley offended at the question. “ _ Todd, _ Addison Apartments is an hour away. I’m not driving here again,” Larry rebuffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I mean, unless you’re proposing a giant sleepover,” Ashley added. “I’m sure everyone could fit in your and Neil’s bed.” Todd gave another sad sigh, and Neil gave him a pat on his shoulder.

“Come on, I’m sure it won’t take that long,” Neil assured before standing up. Ashley and Larry high fived each other as Neil cut the television off, and Todd finally stood, looking like a kicked puppy. It looked like the chaotic duo had claimed victory this time.

Sal had been watching the ordeal with amusement from where he sat on the floor just in front of the couch. Although, he had only been half paying attention. Travis had sat behind him, open legged so Sal could comfortably sit against him. The whole time the blond had been threading his fingers through Sal’s unruly blue mane, trying to untangle it some before threading it into messy braids.Travis couldn’t style hair to save his life, but Sal and Ashley had been helping to teach him. Although, Travis had never actually braided Sal’s hair until now, usually working on Ashley instead. The bluenet had practically melted at the touch, remembering how much he enjoyed people playing with his hair. However, he was suddenly jolted from the pleasurable experience as Travis’s hands moved to grip his shoulders instead.

“Looks like we should get up. Everyone's heading out to try and tackle the Christmas tree,” Travis explained, head resting atop the hand on Sal’s shoulder as he spoke. Sal felt himself flushing at the words, and not because he was excited to undecorate. The close proximity had Travis’s breaths ghosting against the side of his neck, and he could feel his skin pinprick.

“Uh yeah, you’re right,” Sal mumbled, rolling his shoulders to get Travis off of him. His hands immediately flew to his crudely braided hair, undoing it and letting it fall back down, so his red ears would be covered. The prosthetic covered most of Sal’s blush which he was thankful for, but his ears had always been the one giveaway.

“Are you good dude?” The sudden jerk away had startled Travis, concerning him that he had somehow upset Sal. 

The blunet bit the inside of his cheek at the question as he stood up. No, he wasn’t good. He hadn’t been good for half a year now, and everyday seemed a little more torturous than the last. The gang had adopted Travis into their ranks back in their senior year of high school. Back then, he had been a bitter little thing, snapping at everything that approached. There were times when even Sal thought he was past the point of saving. Now, after four years had passed, Sal found it hard to believe that the Travis who was beside him was that same Travis from all those years ago. He supposed the therapy had done the other some good.

Sal wasn’t disappointed the other had grown up both physically and mentally. No, his situation was so much more dire than that. Somewhere along their journey together, after Travis had turned sweet, Sal found himself enjoying the other’s company more and more until the moments they weren’t together felt lonely. It took him a long time to admit that he had grown so fond of his past terrorizer, but when he did, oh boy did those new feelings terrify him. He knew that Travis had a crush on him back in high school, but that had never once been mentioned again post Nockfell High. 

“Yeah, I’m good,” Sal replied. “Just ready to get this started. The sooner we start, the sooner we can finish, y’know?” Sal held a hand out to the still sitting Travis, and the other took it, allowing himself to be pulled up to his feet. After they stood there awkwardly for a moment with their hands still holding, Travis flashed that damned smile that always made Sal feel a little too bubbly.

“Then I guess we should get started,” he stated. Then, the bastard had the audacity to lead Sal to the tree while still holding his hand. Besides it leaving Sal an internal mess, the gesture was nice. He found himself not wanting to break the contact until he saw Larry start to glare daggers into the side of Travis’s head. Larry was the only person who still hadn’t forgiven Travis. Larry was also the only person that Sal had confided in about his crush. That was a poor choice on Sal’s part. He should’ve expected Larry to react vehemently, to chastise him about getting comfy with his ex bully. With a sad sigh, Sal tugged his hand away. He didn’t feel like being the cause of another fight.

Besides the temporary tension, the house cleanup project started off well. They all had cleared the tree of its ornaments, neatly wrapping them in tissue paper and setting the hangers into a small tin can.The process had actually been kind of fun. Travis had stuck by his side, and they started cracking jokes. At one point, the blond had even pulled off an ornament of two polar bears kissing, looked Sal in the eyes with a blank expression and deadpanned, “This could be us but you’re playing.” That had set both of them off, and they had to excuse themselves for a second until they could calm their laughter. The afternoon had been fun, despite the nagging looks from Larry. Everything was going smoothly until Neil and Ashley started taking the garland and lights off while Todd began to vacuum the pine needles off the floor. 

“Oh, I didn’t bring out the boxes for the lights yet,” Todd stated, barely audible over the vroom of the vacuum. Ashley paused, hands overflowing with the strands of multicolored lights. She pursed her lips.

“And you can’t go get them?” Todd shook his head, motioning to his current cleaning endeavor. After another moment of intense staring from Ashley, he reconsidered.

“The three musketters can go get them,” he compromised, nodding his head in the direction of Sal, Travis, and Larry who were in the middle of an intense game called: who’s smart enough to figure out how to get the tree skirt off. Travis had been sitting on his knees, watching Sal scurry about under the tree, trying to claim victory. Larry had sat beside him, scowling. At Todd’s words though, the two sitting boys jolted, muttering their halfhearted agreements to the task. Sal was the only one that hadn’t heard.

“Sal, get up. Todd’s using us as his dogs, and we have to go fetch him some boxes,” Travis teased, earning another head shake from Todd. The words wouldn’t have been so bad if Travis hadn’t taken the liberty to deliver a small smack to Sal’s ass at the end of the sentence. Immediately, the blunet went red from tip to toe and had to smother the small sound of surprise that caught in his throat. He took a moment to collect himself before shuffling out of his bent over position.

“Oh, uh, okay,” he replied as he got up to his feet, brushing off the pine needles that stuck to his clothes. Travis waited for him, patient as ever, while Larry stood off to a distance, once again letting a grimace slash through his face. For the first time that night, Sal felt himself truly getting pissed off. Why couldn’t Larry accept Travis after all these years? Feeling the need to step on the brunet’s toes just a little, Sal slid an arm under Travis’s, linking them. “Lead the way then,” he all but purred, voice dripping extra sweet. Sal was too busy watching Larry roll his eyes in disgust to notice how Travis’s face temporarily reddened.

The walk to the closet in the basement was relatively uneventful. Larry just kept to himself, choosing not to butt in. After Sal’s sudden bout of adrenaline worn off, he became all too aware of how close he had made him and Travis. The over awareness made it impossible to enjoy the moment, and by the time they reached the basement, Sal was a little too happy to unlink their arms.

“So, we’re just grabbing some boxes?” Sal stepped into the supply closet, followed by Travis. Larry was already skimming the shelves.

“Easier said than done,” Larry replied. “Todd has no sense of organization, and it looks like Neil was true to his word when he mentioned that he wasn’t going to clean up after him anymore.” All three boys groaned, each going their respective ways to look for any boxes with Christmas labels. The work was fruitless for a few minutes, but eventually Travis piped up.

“Oh, hey, found one!” Sal was going to turn around and ask where at the sudden exclamation, but when he turned around, he was staring straight at Travis’s chest. It took Sal a minute to process that Travis was leaning up against him to reach a box that was on a shelf above Sal’s head. “Sorry, don't mind me, Sal,” Travis apologized.

The blunet didn’t have time to mentally filter his next words. Shrugging, he shot back, “Oh trust me, I don’t mind. Not one bit.”

Larry and Sal both processed what the hell came out of his mouth at the same time. Sal didn’t know who was in more of a morbid shock between the two of them. When Travis came down, he blinked at them both, oblivious to the situation.The brunet suddenly whipped around, manhandling a box off the shelf. “You two are laying it on awfully thick today, aren’t you?”

“Laying what on thick?” Travis seemed so genuinely confused, and Sal wanted to slam his head in the closet door. Larry narrowed his eyes before turning back to Travis.

“All the flirting. If you two are so head over heels for each other, why don’t you kiss it out already?” Pure venom laced the words, and Travis looked taken aback. His eyes looked from Sal back to Larry, trying to figure out how to recover the rising dilemma.

“We’re just friends,” he chose to say. Sal’s heart sank at the words, half hoping to hear something else come from Travis. Larry just let out a wry laugh, shaking his head.

“Not to Sal, you aren’t” he seethed. The blunet’s head whipped to catch Larry’s heated gaze, eyes widening out of panic.

_ Larry, don’t do this. _

“I don’t know what you mean,” Travis tried, offering a nervous smile. Sal still looked at Larry, internally pleading with him.

_ Please, don’t do this. _

“Of course you don’t,” Larry deadpanned. “Because Sal would rather get hit by a bus than say whatever’s on his mind. But he’s confessed to everyone but you about how much he’s  _ absolutely _ in love with you.” Larry was met with two stunned faces. “You two are ridiculous. I’m taking this box up to Todd.”

Sal watched helpless as Larry exited the room, carrying a box labeled “Easter,” and shut the door none-too-gently behind him. His nerves immediately went haywire, and he all but lunged for the door. Maybe he could talk to Larry and get him to tell Travis that he was lying. However, when Sal turned the knob, the door didn’t budge.

“It’s, uh, it’s locked,” Sal sighed, hand giving the door knob one more twist before dropping his hand in defeat. The sole lightbulb in the tight fit closet flickered, drawing both of their attention up towards it. “This  _ can’t  _ get any worse.”

“Y’know? Somehow I feel like you’ve been in worse situations than this,” Travis hummed. He placed the empty box of Christmas lights back onto the cobweb strewn shelf, giving his arms a break as they waited for someone from the gang to save them. Sal had looked at him at the remark, eyes squinted. It was always hard for Travis to read Sal’s emotions with the barrier of the prosthetic, but he figured Sal was probably confused by the statement. 

“Like what?” Sal’s arms crossed over his chest, head slightly shaking at the question. Travis offered a small smile before breaking eye contact with him. Sal could tell the other was nervous from the way he fidgeted, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

“Umm,” Travis unintelligibly muttered,”How about when you went to high school, and there was always that one asshole who bullied you?” Travis’s smile faltered as his eyes continued to stare down at the dingy floor. Sal rolled his one good eye and let out a short huff of laughter.

“Oh yeah, I  _ almost  _ forgot about that prick,” Sal mused, rolling his weight from the back of his heels to his toes. Travis wasn’t nearly the only nervous one, but the bluenet was trying his best to play off the situation. If Travis wanted to change the topic and not talk about Larry’s words then Sal would follow him down that trail. “Probably wouldn’t have even remembered him if you hadn’t mentioned him,” he teased.

“Yeah, yeah,” Travis rebuffed, digging his hands into the pockets of his khakis. Sal eyed a piece of fuzz on the chest of his sweater. “But I—I’m really sorry about everything.”

“I know Travis,” Sal sighed. He took two steps towards Travis before uncrossing his arms, so he could pluck the stray fuzzball off. His hands came to rest on the front of the sweater, smoothing all the wrinkles out. He could feel Travis staring at him “And like I’ve said a million times before, I forgive you. But now, you need to learn how to forgive yourself.”

“Easier said than done,” Travis wryly joked, looking up at the ceiling before back down to Sal. He pursed his lips, obviously figuring out whether he should ask something or not. Sal looked up at him, eyebrow raised beneath his prosthetic.

“Cat got your tongue?” Sal’s voice came out joking, but he could feel his stomach flip. He went to pull his hands away from Travis when he could feel his fingers start to tremble, but Travis grabbed them, keeping them where they were.

“No, it’s just is it true? What Larry said?” Travis had started rubbing small circles into the back of Sal’s hands with his thumbs. It did very little to assuage Sal’s boiling anxiety. 

“I mean,” Sal trailed off, looking at anything and everything other than the person in front of him. “Kind of?”

“Kind of?” Travis echoed back.

“Yes, yes, it’s true,” Sal gushed, body swaying of its own accord. He had closed his eyes subconsciously, embarrassment overriding his actions. 

“You actually like me?” Sal’s eyes screwed themself shut tighter at the extra question, weakly nodding in answer. “ _ Oh. _ ”

What Sal Fisher did not expect was for Travis Phelps to start crying when he confessed his feelings for him. He had run through the scenario dozens of times before, and he had never, not once, imagined that the other would just combust into tears. Sal opened his eyes when he heard the sniffles begin, just in time to see the first few tears roll down Travis’s face. “Woah, hey, what’s wrong?”

Travis couldn’t respond for a few heartbeats, knowing he’d full on sob if he opened his mouth. Sal was patient, waiting until Travis was ready to talk. “I’ve been so mean to you,” Travis sniffled.

“Not for over three years. Travis, you’re not the same person you used to be,” Sal explained. Travis gripped his hands tighter as his face crumpled again, more tears spilling down his face followed by ugly hiccups.

“I’ve been so afraid of accidentally hurting you these past years. I’m always afraid of being too loud, too rough, too anything. Even though I know I’d never,” Travis faltered, a sour expression temporarily covering his face, “ _ hit  _ you. But I remember the way you used to flinch when I held my hand up for a high five, and I get so scared that you’re still afraid of me.”

“I’m not-“

“There will always be a part of you that is,” Travis countered, cutting Sal off. He had stopped crying, but his sniffles were still pretty bad, and his cheeks were shiny under the light from the dampness of his skin. Sal finally tore his hands away from Travis’s death grip to wipe away the tears with the ends of his sleeves. He didn’t argue with the other because maybe he was right. He knew logically that Travis wouldn’t hurt him anymore, but there were times when that icy fear would still seize him.

  
“Regardless of how low you think of yourself, I still adore you, and you’re going to have to live with that,” Sal teased, thumbs wiping the excess water from beneath Travis’s eyes. He could feel himself stiffen and hold his breath as Travis gazed at him. The other hadn’t actually responded to his confession yet, and that fact wasn’t lost on Sal. “But it’s getting a little stuffy in here. Maybe we should try yelling for help?”

Sal dropped his hand, and Travis gave a little sigh. “Sal, wait.”

“What? Do you not want to--” Sal’s words faltered as Travis placed a hand against where his neck and jawline met, thumb tracing along where skin ended and prosthetic began. He could feel his own breaths quicken but tried to ignore it. “Don’t you want to get out of here?”

Travis ignored his question. “I know that it’s probably been painfully obvious, but I like you too. Never stopped liking you since junior year,” he admitted. 

Sal could feel a weight lifted off of him. Despite Travis’s own assurance, it  _ hadn’t  _ been painfully obvious to Sal. He thought that Travis’s high school crush on him had been, well, left in high school. He could feel his face warm as a smile tugged at his lips, not that Travis could see.

“Oh,” he breathed out. “That’s a long time.” 

“Yeah, but it was well worth the wait,” Travis replied before breaking into a grin. “I can’t believe you actually like me,” he whispered, almost sounding in awe. The statement made Sal’s face heat up more to where he was sure that his blush could be seen through his prosthetic. He couldn’t deny how giddy the words made him feel though.

“I guess it’s hard not to fall for the dude who thought the ornaments went on the Christmas tree before the garland and lights,” Sal joked, light laughter lacing his voice. Just like that, Travis scrunched his face, trying to fight off any traces of a smile.

“I take it back. I’d rather spend my days alone,” Travis groaned, hand falling from Sal’s faced. The bluenet snickered, eyes twinkling from beneath his prosthetic. Travis couldn’t keep up the annoyed facade for long as Sal intertwined their fingers, thumb rubbing against the back of Travis’s hand. A small smile cracked his forced frown. “Does this mean that we’re…?”

Sal looked away, his shyness taking place again after his bout of confidence. He felt Travis give his hand a squeeze, trying to encourage or calm him he wasn’t sure. “No, we’re not.”

“Oh-”

“No, that’s not what I meant! I really like you,” Sal panicked, hand gripping Travis’s tight. “I just think we should go on a date before announcing anything y’know? I just don’t want to rush this.”

“Oh,” Travis echoed himself, sounding a little more relaxed this time. “Then I could take you somewhere nice tomorrow night?” Sal flushed at the fact Travis wanted to take him on a date tomorrow. Maybe he wasn’t the only eager one.

“That sounds nice,” Sal answered, a permanent smile gracing the face beneath his prosthetic. Travis returned the smile, and Sal found himself wondering if he could read his expressions even with his face covered. Travis gave his hand one more squeeze before letting go.

“Now, how do we get out of here?” The blond mused. Sal groaned as he remembered that they were stuck, and Travis let out a light laugh, the kind of laugh that reminded Sal he didn’t mind being stuck in a small closet as long as he had the other at his side.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment!! I love reading how you guys feel about chapters, and it motivates me. 
> 
> Also, if you're looking for some SF friends, come join this discord that I'm in. We don't bite.  
> https://discord.gg/kYtz72e
> 
> Or, come interact with me on my tumblr, @VioletNuisance


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